2.SemiFinal2018

Jessica Hilda Mauboy was born in Darwin, Australia in 1989. Her mother is an Indigenous Australian from the far north of Queensland, while Jessica’s father is from West Timor, Indonesia. Jessica’s family loves music and it is said that their house was the noisiest on the block, because there was always music played.

Introduction

Participant(s): Jessica Mauboy

Song:"We Got Love"

Writer(s): Anthony Egizii, David Musumeci, Jessica Mauboy

Composer(s): Anthony Egizii, David Musumeci

Jessica Mauboy is not stranger at Eurovision. She had the honour to represent her home country Australia as a guest appearance in the 2nd Semi Final in Copenhagen 2014. This entry was out of the competition. Watch our interview with Jessica from 2014 in Copenhagen here.

But this year the Australian broadcaster has nominated her to represent Australia officially in Lisbon. For Australia it’s the fourth time competing in the ESC. All of the entries were highly appreciated and came into the Top 10 of the Grand Finals. It will be very exciting to watch Jessica at her second performance at the Eurovision Song Contest with all the voting procedure.

Jessica Hilda Mauboy was born in Darwin, Australia in 1989. Her mother is an Indigenous Australian from the far north of Queensland, while Jessica’s father is from West Timor, Indonesia. Jessica’s family loves music and it is said that their house was the noisiest on the block, because there was always music played. In the age of 14 Jessica took part at her first competition and travelled all over the country to Tamworth, New South Wales, where she won the Tamworth Country Music Festival. In Sydney she received her first record contract.

In 2006 she became second in the “Australian Idol” singing Whitney Houston’s “I Have Nothing”. Since then she has become one of the most popular Australian singers in Australia. She has released five Top 10 albums and 15 Top 20 singles. Her music has been streamed by more than 159 million people all over the world. The Herald Sun has listed Jessica on #16 of “The 100 Greatest Australian Singers of all Times”.

The beautiful and very sympathetic Jessica has even collaborated with several international artists such as Flo Rida, Snoop Dogg, Ludacris, Jay Sean, and Pitbull. On her tours she also performed with Beyoncé and even sang in front of Barak Obama. Her music style can be described as a modern mix of pop music with Rn’B.

The song “We Got Love” as an uplifting and positive song about not giving up in life. This is a very catchy tune with a great chorus a danceable rhythm and a special atmosphere which is typical for the music of Jessica. The songwriters David Musumeci and Anthony Egizii (DNA) have been the composers of the Australian entries in 2016 and 2017.

Jessica said: "My hope is that this is a song about unity and a reminder that love, acceptance and the power of inclusivity can overcome all obstacles or hardships that arise. Especially in times like these where the world can be a very confusing and lonely place, it’s important to remember when we feel disarmed of empowerment that we still hold the greatest chance for change with love."

Good luck

History

Debut: 2015

Participations: 4

Victories: 0

Finals: 3

Chances for Top 10: 100%

Chances for Grand Final: 100%

For the fourth time, Australia is participating in the Eurovision Song Contest already. In 2015 it was announced that it should be a unique exception, but nobody has expected such a positive echo and a great acceptance to have Australia as an official participating country in the ESC. In the debut entry “Tonight Again” by Guy Sebastian, Australia could make a wonderful 5th place in the Grand Final. And in the following years Dami Im could even reach a 3rd place, even the juries voted here as number one, an unbelievable success for Australia and last year’s “Don’t Come Easy” by Isaiah Firebrace, who made another Top 10 position (9th rank in the Grand Final).

Even if Australia does not belong to Europe geographically, there are strong bounds which have grown over centuries. A lot of Europeans live in Australia and the ESC has always been very popular. The Australian broadcaster SBS has been transmitting the ESC since 1983. The only big disadvantage is the enormous time difference, nevertheless the show is normally broadcasted on the Sunday night. But nowadays, it is also being transmitted live on TV due to the televoting in a very early morning as well as on Sunday night as a reprise.

Nevertheless, there have already been some more or less well known Australians singing in the Eurovision Song Contest in the past as well: Olivia Newton-John born in 1948, who is originally from England, but moved with her family to Australia when she was five years old. In 1974, when ABBA could win the contest for Sweden, Olivia made a great 4th place in Brighton with “Long Live Love”.

There is Johnny Logan, a guy who has won the Eurovision Song Contest three times for Ireland two times as a singer and one time as a composer. Johnny Logan was born in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia in 1954 as a son of Irish immigrants. His songs “What’s Another Year” in 1980 and “Hold Me Now” in 1987 were very successful all over the world. “Why Me” was sung by Linda Martin in 1992, where Johnny acted as composer.

Gina G., who was born in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia in 1970, has represented the United Kingdom with the dance song “Ooh...Aah...Just A Little Bit”. This song came 8th in Oslo 1996.

Jane Camerford, who was born Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia in 1959. She has been representing Germany with the band Texas Lightening with “No No Never” in Athens 2006, where a 14th place could be made.

In 2014, Australia had a first guest appearance in the ESC in Copenhagen with this year’s singer Jessica Mauboy, who was born in Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia in 1989. She had the chance to represent Australia in the interval act of the Semi Final 2 with the song “Sea Of Flags”. Let’s see how she does in the competition.

In the case of winning, what would happen to the ESC? Australia lays 10 time zones away, do all the participants have to travel to Australia? The biggest time difference so far could be noted in the ESC’s from Moscow and Baku with 3 hours’ time-delay. In this case there is a special rule. The Australian broadcaster SBS will be organizing the ESC in the following year, but the event has to stay in Europe. Hence SBS can collaborate with a European broadcaster of its choice. So it could be that the ESC will take place in Germany, but the organizer would be the Australian SBS.

About me: My first Eurovision I watched was in 1987, Brussels. Since then I am following the ESC with great enthusiasm. The greatest fascination for me is the fact that the entire Europe is watching the show at that specific night. Since 2010, Oslo I am a member of the eurovisionlive.com team. I had the chance to witness the second German victory with Lena. My biggest wish would be to have the orchestra back, as it used to be until 1998.